Providence Basketball: Friars defend home court against Xavier

After falling in OT to Marquette, Providence basketball was in need of a resume-boosting win and they came away with a big one at home over No. 5 Xavier.

This is more of what Providence fans expected before the season. With Kyron Cartwright and Rodney Bullock both healthy for what seemed like the first time in ages, the Friars came out in front of their home crowd and pulled off a massive victory. In what was an afternoon weekend special at “The Dunk,” the Friars used a complete game on both ends of the floor to upset the No. 5 Xavier Musketeers.

For the game, Providence was led by five players in double figures. Cartwright had the highest scoring performance with 19 points on 7-for-16 shooting and his surrounding cast was also tremendous. Bullock (17 points), Alpha Diallo (11 points), and Jalen Lindsey (12 points) all pulled their weight as usual but it was the incredible bench performance that was the difference.

While coming off the bench and playing 26 minutes, Isaiah Jackson put up 18 points on 4-for-6 shooting while also supplying six rebounds and swatting three shots. Another thing that led to this victory was Providence’s shooting from the free throw line. In just the second half, the Friars shot 18-for-20 (90.0%) from the charity stripe to secure the victory.

Xavier, on the other hand, struggled due to the poor play of their two stars. Trevon Bluiett and J.P. Macura combined to score 21 points on a disappointing 8-for-24 (33.3%) from the field. It is fair to say that Providence’s defensive game plan had something to do with their off days.

Moving forward, this will prove to be a monster win for Providence. After a somewhat rough start to their season, this was the resume-building win that the Friars needed. The team might still need to do plenty of work in conference play in order to solidify their spot as a potential at-large team, but this was a huge step in the right direction.

Considering the Friars blew a late lead to Marquette in their last game, holding on to win this one has to be huge for their confidence moving forward. Providence was once a team that ranked as low as 8th in our Big East Power Rankings and they will certainly continue their rise up the rankings after this win.

For Xavier, this is a crushing loss. With Villanova on the road coming up in their next game, Xavier will have to play extremely well in order to avoid two consecutive losses. The Musketeers entered conference play with hopes of knocking Villanova off its pedestal as conference champion but this was a tough loss in that quest. Thankfully, Villanova already has a loss on their record so Xavier is still tied with the Wildcats.

Next: Latest Big East power rankings

This game as a whole once again showed just how talented the Big East is from top to bottom. Every game is a tough one, especially on the road. With Butler and Providence already snagging home wins over the top two teams in the conference, it is clear that nobody can be taken lightly on their home floor.